The

Bees Thank you. I'm a

I'm

A Melbourne is located in the south-eastern corner of Australia. It's a big city, humming with activity at all hours in the day and night. On the outer fringe of

Melbourne's northern suburbs lies Murnda. It's a quiet modern neighbourhood that still holds the

imprint of its rural past. It started out as farmland, known in the 1800s as Morang's South.

It was the land of orchards and sheep stations before it took the name Mernda in 1913.

By the 2000s, Mernda had transformed.

It was now one of the faster-growing areas in Victoria.

Farm blocks gave way to neat rows of family homes.

School, supermarkets and a shiny new train line followed, connecting the community to the wider city.

One night in November of 2020, Agimano was asleep in her bed in a tidy house nestled in one of the newer estates of Mernda.

The home was still in dark, until a noise jolted her awake.

She blinked, unsure if it had come from the world outside or from inside her dreams.

But then she heard something else.

It sounded like somebody gasping for breath.

This wasn't a bad dream.

It was real, but the nightmare had only just begun.

It was in the suburb of Mernda that Celeste Mano had built a life. She was born on the 22nd of November

1996, the only daughter of Agie DeMorrow and Tony Mano. From the very beginning, she was their light.

The name Celeste had been chosen deliberately, lovingly, for its celestial meaning.

Though her parents would eventually separate their bond with Celeste remained unwavering.

...